


The Avatar and the Fire Lord

by kennys



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 17:02:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12611228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kennys/pseuds/kennys
Summary: Declining the invitation of the Fire Lord to be isn't an option, even if you are the Avatar.





	The Avatar and the Fire Lord

**Author's Note:**

> this is set in the world of avatar: the last airbender and may be tricky to follow if you haven't seen the show, so apologies about that!!

As luck would have it, it’s Tweek that stumbles across the letter from the Fire Nation. He yelps and throws it against the ground as if the wretched thing is actually on fire.

“Dude,” says Craig. “That’s from the Fire Nation.”

Kenny snorts. “We’d be truly lost without you and your brazen intellect, Craig.”  
  
“Oh, fuck off McCormick.”

“Stan,” Wendy says worriedly, ever the voice of reason. “What do you think?”

Stan shrugs. “I have no idea,” he says honestly. “Kenny?”

Kenny scowls. “Why are you looking at me dude?”

“Are you expecting any mail from home?”

“You know I’m fucking not.”

“Let’s not fight!” Tweek yells, clenching his fists. “It could be some kind of death sentence for all of us! We can’t die hating each other.”

“I don’t know,” Craig muses aloud. “I could easily go my grave hating McCormick and I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

Kenny rolls his eyes. “Funny.”

Stan tunes out their bickering and feels Wendy’s reassuring touch, her hand resting lightly upon his shoulder. “Open it Stan.”

Stan smiles lightly at his friend and warily unravels the parchment. Fancy letters from the Fire Nation tend to be bearers of bad news. It’s addressed to him, to the Avatar, in meticulous handwriting. It takes him a few seconds to focus on what he’s reading, and he can feel his friends’ eyes upon him, their bickering momentarily forgotten.

“What is it?” Kenny demands.

“Oh Jesus,” says Tweek. “It’s a death summons, isn’t it? We’re all going to have to pack our bags and change our names and live as outlaws forever.”

Stan sighs. “Calm down Tweek.” He places the parchment on the table for everyone to behold. “It’s an invitation for all of us, to the coronation of the new Fire Lord.” Even as he says the words aloud, he feels uneasy. It's not like he has the power to decline such an invite, Avatar though he may be, but something about it doesn't sit well with him.

Kenny swears. “He’s gotta be joking, right?”

Wendy looks stunned. “It’s been a year already?”

Stan nods. “I guess so.” A full year since the existing Fire Lord and his wife mysteriously dropped dead on their son’s seventeenth birthday, leaving the entirety of the Fire Nation in his hands. Under existing laws he couldn’t take the crown until he was of age. Stan hasn’t seen the prince in many years, not since they were both boys of eleven. Kyle was small and scrawny, forever scabbing his knees and letting his red curls fall over his eyes. It’s hard to imagine him as the Fire Lord.

Craig whistles. “How about that.”

“I’m not going,” Kenny says abruptly. “I fucking told you guys I was never stepping foot back there again.”

“Too bad,” Stan says. “Because you’re clearly invited.” He reads off the parchment, “ _“I would be honoured to make the acquaintance of those with whom you have trained and mastered the four elements alongside.”_ His own words dude.”

“He’s probably imagining some old wise masters of bending,” Kenny says hotly. “Not some gutter rat who broke out of jail.”

“So what?” snaps Craig. “None of us are old and wise. Tweek’s a runaway. Wendy’s a disgraced daughter of a lord. I’m a fucking mess.” Stan is momentarily surprised at this outburst but reminds himself that Craig and Kenny are secretly friends. Sort of.

Kenny looks touched. “That’s true," he admits begrudgingly. "We’re probably the worst party any Avatar in history has associated with.”

Wendy rolls her eyes. “Thanks Kenny.”

“It’s true though,” mutters Tweek.

“Granted,” Stan says with a smile, “but I wouldn’t trade any of you for the oldest and wisest masters in the world.”

Craig and Kenny roll their eyes simultaneously.

“The invitation specifies companions,” Wendy says with a smile as she peers through it. “So I take it Bebe can come?”

“I assumed that was a given,” Stan says, returning her grin. “The entire Northern Water Tribe wasn’t able to keep you two apart, so who am I to try?”

“What about Butters?” Kenny says suddenly.

Stan hesitates. “Kenny, you don’t have to come. I know you feel uncomfortable with that place man, and I don’t want to be the one to bring you back.”

Kenny shrugs. “Whatever about me. You’re the Avatar, Stan. I’d be a dick if I let my best friend go to the Fire Nation without his firebending teacher. And Butters has always wanted to travel. It’s the least I could do for him.” He pauses. “Who knows? I might even find Karen.”

Stan doesn’t even hesitate before reaching across the table to hug Kenny, feeling him initially tense up but relax into the hug. Kenny has never elaborated about his sister and her disappearance but Stan wants him to know that he’ll do whatever it takes to find her. He only hopes he’s communicated all that in one hug.

Wendy clears her throat. “So, uh, breakfast?”

The rest of the morning is spent eating pancakes that Tweek has baked to perfection - seriously, Stan thinks, when Tweek isn’t freaking out over ridiculous shit, he’s an unbelievably talented baker, and making travel plans. It’s agreed unanimously that they should leave the following day at sunset so as to avoid travelling in the dark as much as possible. Tweek initially freaks out regarding their means of transport, (“Ahh! But what if Stripe isn’t able to fly all of us at once? What if he isn't able to travel that far and he dies?”) but Craig consoles his boyfriend immediately (“Dude, he’s a flying bison. That’s what he’s good at.”). Once the pancakes are cleared and travel plans have been agreed upon, Kenny and Wendy depart for Butters and Bebe respectively. Craig and Tweek mutter among themselves before announcing that they’re going to visit their old buddies before they leave for the Fire Nation (and, according to Tweek, “probably our deaths.”).

Stan is alone then, and he takes the opportunity to go to the backyard and concentrate on his bending, with Stripe for company. As much as he likes training with his friends, Kenny spitting fireballs at him, Wendy creating waves around him, Craig manipulating the earth beneath his feet and Tweek creating winds that often cause him to topple over, there’s something oddly freeing in training alone, bending the elements around him to his will and his will alone. It’s exhilarating and breathtaking, and above all, right. He is the Avatar. This is what he was born to do.

**Author's Note:**

> god this is so self indulgent but these are my two fave shows of all time so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> feedback is always a blessing!


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